Operation Matchmaker
by suburbs
Summary: Frankie decides his life would be improved if his older brothers got girlfriends. JONAS
1. Mission Matchmaker

_Disclaimer: I do not own JONAS, The Hobbit or Spongebob._

_A/N: Angellwings said that she wouldn't mind seeing another Ellie/Frankie, which started me thinking that maybe he could use a partner in crime for one more story. I can't believe I'm starting another chapter fic without finishing Range of Emotions first. I've never done that. Oh, and I'm going on vacation again, so I probably won't be able to beta for the next week and a half. Are you rolling your eyes and wondering if I'm ever home? I am._

"I bet you're wondering why we built this pillow fort," Frankie said to his friend Ellie as they huddled under a mountain of pillows and blankets in the middle of the family room.

"Cause pillow forts are fun?"

"No. Well, yes, but no. I mean, they are fun, but that's not why."

"You want to be bandits and this is our hideout?" She asked hopefully.

"No-" he began before she cut him off.

"You're finally going to play _The Hobbit_ with me and this is Smaug's cave?"

"No! I told you I'm not pretending to be some guy with hairy feet. And I still don't get why you're mom reads you _The Hobbit_ which is scary and violent but won't let you watch Spongebob."

"I told you she's weird. Bat cave?"

"Stop! Ellie, you weren't supposed to guess," he whined. "You were just supposed to ask me why."

"Oh," she said sounding surprised. "Okay. Start over."

"What?"

"I didn't know there was a script. Start over, and I'll say my line."

He wasn't sure if she was making fun of him or if she was serious, but he played along. "I bet you're wondering why we built this pillow fort."

"Why yes, Frankie. Why did we build this pillow fort?" Ellie asked with exaggerated interest.

Rolling his eyes, a trick he had picked up from Nick, he said, "So we could have a headquarters for our new secret club."

"Cool!" she exclaimed, this time with real excitement. "What kind of club? A pirate club? Video game club?"

"A club to get my brothers girlfriends."

Ellie gave him a look of disgust. "My pirate idea was way better."

"No. It'll be good. We can sneak around and spy and come up with awesome plans."

"Why do you care if they have girlfriends anyway?" She asked, clearly not impressed with the concept.

"Because when my brothers are happy, I'm happy," Frankie replied magnanimously. When Ellie gave him a skeptical look, he added, "Because when they have girlfriends, I benefit. Take Nick - some girl he likes breaks up with her boyfriend, I get to play his drums. Girl gets back together with ex-boyfriend, no drums for Frankie. Joe gets a date with orchestra girl-"

"Do these girls have names?" She asked curiously.

"When one of them is around for more than a week, I'm sure I'll remember a name. Anyway, Joe dates orchestra girl and takes me to the movies to show he's sensitive. As soon as he loses interest, I'm back at home watching reruns of Scooby Doo."

"What about Kevin? Is he the guitar guy or the one with straight hair?" Ellie asked.

"Guitar." It cracked him up that she still couldn't keep his three brothers straight. "Actually, Kevin's pretty nice to me most of the time. But if he's anything like the other two, think how much nicer he could be."

"Fair enough. So what exactly are we doing in this matchmakers' club?"

"Wait? Aren't you going to ask me what's in it for you?" He had figured that she would agree eventually because she was cool that way, but he had prepared a bribe just in case.

"Nope. If you really want to do this lame club thing, I'll go along," she said wearily. "Besides, Mom says I need to let other people be in charge sometimes and play what my friends want to play. Even when my friends want to do dumb things." She paused a second before adding, "Do you think you can mention to my mom how I let you play your game today?"

Brushing off the fact that he was pretty sure she had just called his idea dumb and lame, he nodded. She had forgiven him for the black eye he gave her when they were playing swords with sticks and had gotten the other girls in his class to stop chasing him at recess, so he could live with the occasional insult.

"Find them all girlfriends."

"But how?"

Frankie shrugged. "I thought I'd wait and let you help me make the plan cause we're a team."

She looked doubtful. "Do you even know if they like anyone?"

"Well, Joe and Stella like each other. No doubt about that. And Stella's friend Macy can throw a mean curveball, so I figured maybe she'd work for one of the other two. So we just need to find one other girl, and we'll be good."

"Isn't there usually a crowd of girls outside? Can't we just close our eyes and grab one?"

"Ellie, be serious. Whoever it is will probably be over here a lot, so we need to make sure she's someone we like."

"Good point. How about we figure out who Macy should go with and then we'll worry about getting someone for the leftover."

"See. We're a good team," Frankie said smiling.

"So how do we find out who Macy likes?"

They both sat silently under the blankets, neither of them sure what to do. At that moment, they heard the front door open and a girls' voice call, "Hey Joe! Macy and I are here. You ready to go yet?"

The two eight-year-olds' eyes went wide.

"Not yet," Joe yelled back. "Can you give me fifteen minutes?"

Frankie grinned at his friend. "Well that's amazingly convenient. How about I take Stella and you interrogate Macy?"

"Frankie, I don't even know her. How am I…"

But he didn't let her finish the question. Instead he threw back the blankets and stood up, ready to begin "Operation Matchmaker".


	2. Reconnaissance

_Disclaimer: I do not own JONAS._

_A/N: The site is apparently against the concept of the review reply, so THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed. I appreciate your feedback so much and am very nervous about posting this because I am afraid of disappointing you all. First because I know most of you aren't going to be happy with my pairing selections. Second because it turns out this story was much harder to write than I anticipated. I'm having a teensy problem coming up with realistic things two eight year olds could actually do as matchmakers. Hopefully I'll have a brainstorm on vacation._

As Frankie popped out of the pillow fort, he heard Stella gasp in surprise. Pleased at her response, he looked over to his right to see if Ellie had noticed, but frowned when he saw she wasn't there. He glanced down to find that she was still sitting in the middle of the fort with her arms crossed glaring at him. He rolled his eyes and gestured for her to stand up. After sticking out her tongue at him, she complied.

"Hey, Stella and Macy. This is my friend Ellie," he said cheerfully.

Stella waved and smiled before heading towards the kitchen. "Hi Ellie. It's nice to meet you." Opening the refrigerator, she called out, "Macy, do you want something to drink while we're waiting? It's Joe so it could take awhile."

"Sure," the brunette replied. "Water or soda. Whatever they have."

She then turned towards Ellie and held out her hand. "Hi, Ellie. I'm Macy. Kevin told me that Frankie had a cool new friend. It's so nice to meet you!"

"Thank you! It's nice to meet you too," she said shaking the older girl's hand.

From the grin on her face, Frankie knew that Kevin had instantly become Ellie's favorite brother. He knew his friend was awesome, but a lot of the kids at school, especially the girls, thought she was strange because she wasn't into Hannah Montana and liked to read. But like Kevin, he didn't really care what other people thought, and fortunately, Ellie usually didn't either.

He watched her fidget a little once the introductions were over and figured this would be a good time to help her out since she knew absolutely nothing about her target, "Ellie, Macy here is JONAS' number one fan."

Ellie shot him a grateful look before turning to Macy, "Really? Wow! Do you have a favorite JONAS?"

Confident that Ellie now had things under control, he turned his attention back to Stella. "So Stella, long time no see."

Pausing in the middle of opening a cabinet door, she gave him a weird look, "I saw you yesterday when I came to do a fitting for the awards show."

"True. But it's been awhile since you and I really talked, just us."

"Okay," she said slowly. "And what exactly did you want to talk about?"

"Come on, Stella, you know I rely on you to verify all my high school gossip." He noticed she perked up as soon as he mentioned the word 'gossip'; he had her just where he wanted her. "Recently I heard some crazy story about a girl dressing her date up like Nick."

He had actually heard it from a slightly freaked-out Nick, but he thought he would get more information this way. He had found that if he was vague, his brothers and Stella usually filled in the gaps for him.

Sure enough, Stella glanced nervously at Macy before lowering he voice to a whisper. "You didn't hear this from me," she began. He moved his hand across his mouth to show her his lips were sealed; Stella liked stuff like that. "But Macy dressed her date Randolph up like Nick for the big basketball game. She borrowed one of Nick's outfits from my house and even had the guy wear a brown, curly wig."

"Holy Scooby Snacks!" he thought. He had assumed that Nick was exaggerating. Frankie looked over at the seemingly normal girl currently sitting on his couch talking to his best friends. Did no one else think that was crazy? Like restraining order crazy? Maybe he should just drag some girl in off the street. It was like girls hit puberty and lost their minds. He really hoped that Ellie wasn't going to go all weird on him one day.

"But she feels horrible about it," Stella continued, probably noticing he looked a little freaked out.

"She must really like Nick," Frankie muttered.

"I don't know," Stella said. "I said the same thing, and she told me that Randolph was just the same size as Nick, so he'd fit in the outfit." Shaking her head she added, "Sometimes I don't get that girl."

"So she doesn't like Nick?"

"I think she likes JONAS, and Nick happens to be in JONAS."

That really wasn't helpful, Frankie thought. But at that moment, Joe slid down one of the fire poles, finally ready to go to the movies with the girls, so he knew it was all he was going to get for now.

"Ready, ladies?" Joe said as if they hadn't both been waiting for him. As he walked past Frankie, he reached out and ruffled his hair. "Let's go!"

Stella waved to Frankie and Ellie before following Joe out the front door with Macy right behind her.

"Bye, Ellie! It was great talking to you. You and Frankie should come to one of my softball games with Kevin," Macy said cheerfully.

"Sounds great," Ellie replied with a smile.

As soon as the door closed, the girl turned and looked at Frankie, "That was the weirdest thing I've ever seen. She's this totally cool girl until you mention JONAS, and then she goes kooky. It's like she's been taken over by an alien pod person."

"I know! Stella told me Macy dressed one of her dates up like Nick!"

Ellie's eyes went wide. "Was it Halloween?"

"No. A basketball game."

"That's wrong."

"I know."

The two kids collapsed onto the couch, feeling a little deflated. "I really liked her when she was talking with me about sports," Ellie finally announced.

"What did she actually say about the guys anyway?" Frankie asked.

"I started by asking her which one was her favorite, and she started babbling about how Joe was so funny and Nick was so intense and Kevin was so sweet, which wasn't helpful." Frankie frowned – this wasn't going as well as he had hoped. "So then I asked if she closer to one of them than the others."

"Nice!" Frankie said admiringly.

"Thank you. She told me some story about Kevin giving her his lucky boot."

"He gave her the boot – like kicked her out?"

"No, he actually gave her one of his boots." When Frankie looked confused, she shrugged, "He's your brother, not mine. Anyway, she was less weird when she talked about Kevin."

"Plus, she mentioned him twice while she was here in a normal, non-freaky way," he pointed out.

"True! Maybe we can tell Kevin that she invited us to one of her games and we need him to take us. Then we can watch them together."

"Excellent!"

Ellie grinned at him, "And it's nice that we have an actual plan this time."

"My way worked too," Frankie said with a pout. "We got the information we needed. So what do you think we should do about Nick?"

"I still think we should just grab one of the girls outside." She stood up and looked out the window, "There have to be at least twenty of them outside, and I can see," she stopped to count, "three with signs asking him to marry them and two that say, 'I love Nick!' I bet any of them would be thrilled to date him."

"Ellie! He's my brother – we can't just throw some crazy fan girl at him."

"You're setting Kevin up with Macy. How's it different?"

Frankie froze for a moment before replying, "Cause she's a crazy fan girl we know. And she and Kevin are already friends. So it's different."

"I guess. Can we just practice on Kevin and Macy, then?"

"But it'll take forever that way," Frankie whined. "And the first one might break up before we get the other two done."

"Tough. I can only take one of these at a time," Ellie said stubbornly, sitting back on the couch.

The two friends sat glaring at each other. Frankie knew that she was probably right because they actually had no idea what they were doing, but he wanted everyone paired up so he could reap the rewards now.

"Oh, are you guys having a staring contest? Can I play?"

Sighing, Frankie turned to his oldest brother, "Hey, Kevin. Actually I think we're done playing."

"Who won?" His brother asked, looking disappointed.

Frankie looked over at his friend before saying, "Ellie. So she gets to pick how we play the next game." She grinned at him. "Hey, Kev. Macy invited us to one of her games. Do you think maybe you could take us sometime?"

He saw his brother's face light up at the mention of the crazy brunette, which he took as a sign that they were on the right track. Of course, Kevin did get excited pretty easily, so it could just mean that they had really good nachos at the ball field's snack bar.

"Awesome idea! I think that she has a softball game after school tomorrow. I could come pick you guys up from school." Kevin reached into his pocket and tossed Ellie his phone. "Why don't you call your mom to see if it'd be okay."

Ellie looked skeptical. "I don't know if she'll let me drive with a high school student she's never met."

"You call, and I'll do the rest." Kevin assured her.

She dialed her mom's cell phone and waited for her to answer. "Hi, Mom. Frankie's brother Kevin wants to talk to you."

"Hello, Ellie's mom," Kevin said after taking the phone. "I was wondering if I could pick Frankie and Ellie up from school tomorrow and take them to a softball game at my school. I'm a very good driver and a certified babysitter." He paused, listening to whatever Ellie's mom was saying, "Of course." He gave Ellie a thumbs up.

She leaned over and whispered to Frankie, "He's a certified babysitter?"

"Yup. Mom was a little worried about leaving me alone with him when I was younger, so he signed up for the class. Apparently he does a mean mouth-to-mouth, but fortunately he hasn't had to use it on me."

"How about I drive Ellie home, and I'll bring my scrapbook with my references?" He paused again. "No, I don't mind at all. For some reason my family never wants to look at it with me." Grabbing a pen and paper off the counter, he added, "Can you give me directions?"

After hanging up, Kevin threw an arm around each of them, "I think we're on for tomorrow – you, me, Macy, a little softball and the best hot dogs in town. What could be better than that?"

Frankie grinned at Ellie; he couldn't believe how well things were going. Tomorrow Phase One of Operation Matchmaker would be a go.


	3. Softball and Ice Cream

_Disclaimer: I do not own JONAS._

_A/N: Still struggling with this story. And need to stop writing scenes where Macy plays sports because I know very little about them. Why can't Disney have a character obsessed with 19__th__ Century American Literature? On the plus side, chapter six is done. Now I just have to write four and five cause otherwise the one I wrote won't make any sense. But I refuse to not finish a story once I start it, so it will be done eventually even if it kills me._

_Dedication: To LittleRedOne because I am so thrilled she's back. Did you all read her Joe/Macy friendship story Weightless? If you haven't, you should!_

As Frankie sat in the bleachers at Horace Mantis, he couldn't help but smile. The sun was shining, the hot dogs were almost as good as Kevin had promised, and his oldest brother had been attentively watching Macy Misa's every move. At this rate, he wasn't even going to have to do anything – he could just sit back and enjoy the game.

Except Ellie had a different plan.

"I think he likes her," she leaned over and whispered.

"I know," Frankie replied distractedly, more interested in watching the shortstop's fielding. He wanted to figure out how she scooped the ball up and threw it to first base so quickly. It would really help him out during recess if he could get it down. "We're pretty much home free."

"Frankie," she said sternly, "liking someone and dating them are two different things. Didn't you tell me that Joe and Stella like each other? Just because he likes her doesn't mean he's going to do anything about it."

He frowned; she had a point – a point that certainly sucked some of the fun out of his afternoon. "Fine," he pouted. "What do you think we should do?"

"Well, why don't we get Kevin to talk about Macy to sort of make sure he likes her first."

"Then what?"

"Uhm… ice cream?"

He turned and looked at her incredulously. "Ice cream? How's that a plan?"

"We can ask Kevin to take us to ice cream after the game and invite Macy along. That's sort of like a date, right?"

"Plus you and I get ice cream. Sorry I doubted you; you're brilliant!"

"Thank you," she replied proudly. Pausing, she added, "Which of us should bring up Macy?"

"Since it was your idea, I nominate you."

Ellie stuck her tongue out at him, but turned and smiled at Kevin before saying, "Wow, Macy is amazing!"

"She is," Kevin agreed with his eyes still on the brunette who was currently warming up for her turn at bat.

Ellie tried again. "Does she play any other sports?"

"Macy?" Kevin asked. "She pretty much plays every sport you can think of. And she's good at all of them. You should see her spike a ball in volleyball. She's graceful but deadly. Sort of like a lioness, but without the fur."

Frankie grinned when his friend shot him a disbelieving look. She still hadn't quite gotten used to Kevin's random animal references. "Hey, Kevin," he said, figuring Ellie had suffered enough for the cause. "Do you think maybe you could take us to ice cream after?"

"I don't know," his brother said hesitantly. "I'm not sure Ellie's mom will want her to eat sweets before dinner."

"How about I call?" Ellie asked quickly. "I bet she'll let me count that hot dog as dinner this once."

Frankie saw Kevin's forehead crease with worry. "I don't want her to think I'm irresponsible – letting you fill up on junk food."

"It's okay, Kevin. I'll make sure to let her know it wasn't your idea," she promised. "Can I borrow your phone?"

At that moment, Macy stepped up to bat, and Kevin absentmindedly handed Ellie the phone, totally intent on the girl at the plate. Frankie watched in awe as she hit a triple, sliding into third just in front of a throw from the right fielder.

"My mom says it's okay this once," Ellie said happily, handing Kevin back his phone. "She'll give you some money when you drop me off."

Before either Frankie or Kevin could respond, a teammate hit a single, sending Macy home for a run that put Horace Mantis in the lead. The three of them stood up in the stands screaming and clapping for her. After a few more outs, the game was over. Frankie and Ellie practically dragged Kevin down the bleachers to get to Macy before she headed for the locker room. They were afraid if they didn't get to her quickly Kevin might make them go to ice cream before they could talk to her; he was taking his babysitting duties very seriously.

"Wow, Macy," Ellie gushed when they finally found the teen on the field. "You were great. I mean Kevin had told us that you were totally amazing, but hearing it isn't the same as seeing it."

Frankie saw Macy and Kevin both blush at Ellie's pronouncement, which he took as his cue to initiate the next part of the plan. "Yeah, thanks for inviting us. It was really fun." He paused and opened his eyes wide, trying to make it look like he had just had a brilliant idea. "Hey, we're going to ice cream now. Do you want to come?"

He saw her eyes flicker over to Kevin, like she wanted to see if he wanted her to come. Frankie was worried for a moment, but his brother rose to the occasion, saying, "We'd love to have you come with us."

Macy bit her lip before replying, "I really want to, but I have to go to the locker room and change and stuff. It usually takes me at least twenty minutes."

Frankie felt his heart drop. Kevin was in super-babysitter mode, so there was no way that he was going to make Ellie wait that long. Fortunately the curly-haired eight-year old stepped in, "I've never been to a high school before. Maybe Kevin could show me around while you change."

"Sure," Kevin said enthusiastically.

"Are you positive that's okay?" Macy asked.

Frankie and Ellie both nodded furiously, and Kevin smiled at her. "How about we meet in the parking lot in about twenty minutes?"

As Macy stood smiling back at Kevin, Frankie wondered if they were ever going to make it to ice cream. The two teens seemed perfectly content to just stand there smiling at each other. Fortunately, Macy's coach called for her, breaking them out of their weird moment.

"So I'll see you soon," Macy said before turning and sprinting after her team.

Kevin stood there watching her leave until Ellie piped up, "Can you show me where the lockers are?"

Shaking his head a little like he was trying to clear his head, Kevin turned to the little girl next to him and said, "Sure. Let's go. I have the only locker in the school that makes smoothies." He saw Frankie and Ellie's eyes light up and added, "But we'll have to try it out another day. You can't have ice cream and smoothies."

"I thought you said Kevin was the fun brother," Ellie muttered.

"Big brother Kevin is fun. Ellie's babysitter Kevin is BORING!" He replied.

Kevin stopped and looked at them. "You know I'm standing next to you and can hear what you're saying, right?" When neither of them answered, he started to look panicked. "Wait, you can see me, right? I'm not invisible, am I?"

Frankie was all for playing up the opportunity and seeing how long they could make Kevin think he was invisible, but Ellie sighed and said, "No, Kevin. We can see you. Let's go see the lockers."

After a short, but fairly dull tour of the school, the three of them headed to the parking lot to meet Macy. She was already there, and it looked like she had rushed to be on time. Her wet hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she was wearing Horace Mantis sweats.

"All ready," she chirped happily as they approached her.

"Did you drive today, or do you want to come with us?" Kevin asked. Frankie hoped that she needed a rise so it would be more like a date – minus the two eight year olds tagging along. But if he and Ellie sat in the back and were really quiet, maybe they'd forget about them.

"I'd love a ride," Macy answered smiling.

Frankie grinned as they headed to Kevin's car. His brother opened the door for both Macy and Ellie, earning him smiles from both girls. After everyone was safely buckled, Kevin pulled out of the parking lots and headed down the road to Mason's Ice Cream Parlor, which made the best ice cream in town.

It was pretty crowded when they arrived, but Kevin managed to grab them a booth in the back. Frankie peeked around his menu to watch Kevin and Macy, and he had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. The two teens kept sneaking glances at each other, blushing whenever the other one caught them. It was both cute and nauseating.

"So what is everyone having?" Macy finally asked.

"Peppermint ice cream with extra chocolate sauce and no whipped cream," Ellie said. "My usual."

"Strawberry with strawberry sauce, extra whipped cream and a cherry," Frankie added. He liked going to ice cream with Ellie because if they forgot and gave her whipped cream, she'd offer it to him.

"Chocolate ice cream with butterscotch and marshmallow sauce, whipped cream, nuts and three cherries," Kevin replied.

Macy's eyes went wide. "You like butterscotch and marshmallow too? I thought I was the only one."

"Are you kidding? I love them!"

"I've never tried it with chocolate, though. Just vanilla," Macy admitted.

"How about you try a bite of mine to see if you like it," Kevin suggested. Frankie saw Macy nod her head happily. It was so obvious that the two teens liked each other that it took all his self-control to keep from blurting it out right then, but he knew his brother would kill him if he did that.

After they ordered, Macy got up to take Ellie to the bathroom so his friend could wash her hands, and Frankie waited until he was pretty sure they were out of ear-shot before announcing, "Just tell her you like her or ask her out or something!"

"What?" Kevin asked in shock.

"Macy. You obviously like each other. Please just ask her out."

His oldest brother looked around nervously before saying, "I don't like Macy."

"Kevin, your voice just got all weird and high like it does when you lie. Plus you two have been making stupid googly-eyes at each other all afternoon. It's making me sick, and I'm not going to be able to enjoy my ice cream if you keep it up."

"I can't ask her out," Kevin said miserably. "What if she doesn't like me?"

Narrowing his eyes, Frankie replied, "Don't be a Joe."

Before Kevin could answer, Macy and Ellie arrived, ending the discussion. Frankie hoped that he had given his brother the encouragement needed to make his move, but he wasn't sure. As the waitress brought their ice cream, Ellie leaned over, "Do you think he's going to ask her?"

Frankie just shrugged and dug into his sundae. He had tried, and he certainly wasn't going to let his brother's love life spoil a perfectly good dessert.

"So Macy, do you like to watch sports or just play them?" Ellie asked after taking a huge bite from her ice cream.

"I love anything to do with sports," Macy said. "My dad and I spend most of Sunday watching sports together."

"That's cool," Ellie replied. "Have you ever been to a professional game?"

Macy shook her head. "Not yet. It's just so expensive. But I've always wanted to go to a Yankees game."

"My grandpa took me once," Ellie said. "It was so much fun!"

Ellie had just presented Kevin with the perfect opportunity, and he was letting it pass by; Frankie kicked his brother and gestured towards Macy.

"Ouch! Why'd you do that?" Kevin asked indignantly.

"Did you hear Macy? She's always wanted to go to a Yankee's game," Frankie said pointedly.

"Oh! I could take you to one," Kevin said eagerly.

"You don't have to," Macy replied shyly, looking down at her ice cream. "I wasn't trying to hint for an invitation or anything."

"I know," Kevin said quickly. "I didn't think you were. But I would really like to take you to a game." He gulped before adding, "Maybe it could be like a date."

She looked up at him and smiled, "I'd like that."

The two were so engrossed in each other that they didn't even notice Frankie and Ellie high-five across from them.

"We're good," Frankie whispered.

"We're lucky," Ellie corrected him. "They already liked each other. All they needed was a little push. They aren't all going to be that easy."

"Why not?" Frankie wanted this thing to be over quickly. Romance was boring, and he was ready for the expected perks to begin. "Kevin and Macy only took one day. We should be done by the end of the week."

"You're delusional," Ellie replied, going back to her ice cream.

"Am not!" He didn't want to admit that he wasn't sure exactly what that meant.

"We don't even have a girl for Nick," she pointed out. "And since you refuse to go with my girl-off-the-street plan, that isn't going to happen overnight."

"You've been spending too much time with fun-sucking, Babysitter Kevin," Frankie grumbled, earning him a glare from his friend. "How about we enjoy this victory and worry about the other two tomorrow."

"Sounds fair. I don't want you to spoil my ice cream with your grumpiness." Ellie took a huge bit of her sundae and ended up with chocolate sauce running down her chin. Both kids started to giggle as Frankie handed her a napkin.

"Nice job on the sports question," he said, wanting to make sure she wasn't really upset with him.

"I am sort of brilliant, aren't I?"

Frankie rolled his eyes at her, but he grinned and silently agreed with her, thinking that he had way better taste in girls than his brothers.


	4. In a Closet or The Caged Tiger

_Disclaimer: I do not own JONAS._

_A/N: I have brought up this idea before without actually writing it, but it seemed perfect for Frankie and Ellie. The logistics are a little dicey, but hopefully it makes enough sense that you can forgive any flaws. In this chapter, things start to go wrong for the intrepid pair. _

Frankie and Ellie were in the middle of their after-school snack when Stella and Joe arrived, loaded down with a ton of shopping bags. Nodding at the pair as she passed, Stella called out, "Hey Frankie and Ellie. We'll be in the Stellavator getting this all loaded in if you need us." Without waiting for a response, she headed up the stairs with Joe following along behind.

"The Stellavator?" Ellie asked sounding confused.

"It's the guys' closet."

"They named their closet after Stella?"

Frankie shook his head, his mouth still full of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. After swallowing he explained, "Stella named it after herself. It's this super-fancy computerized thing she invented."

"Why do they need a computer closet?"

Frankie sometimes forgot that computerized closets and bodyguards and private jets weren't actually normal. "Well, you know how Stella is their stylist, right?" Ellie nodded. "So the closet is programmed so it only offers them outfits approved by Stella."

Ellie just blinked at him before turning and taking a bite out of her own sandwich. Apparently the Stellavator had left her speechless. All of a sudden, Frankie was struck by an idea.

"We can lock them in!"

"Huh?"

"Stella and Joe. Nick and Kevin are always joking that they're going to lock Joe and Stella in a closet or dressing room until they agree to date. We should just go ahead and do it."

"Lock them in the fancy closet thing?" Ellie asked.

"The Stellavator," Frankie corrected.

"Yeah, I'm not calling it that. It's just weird," she replied. "Does the thing even lock?"

"That's the beauty of it. It has a locking keypad outside, and only Stella and Dad know the code."

"Your brothers aren't allowed the code to their own closet?" Ellie sounded incredulous.

"It is a very delicate system and everything has to be on the right hanger for it to work. Joe used to think it was hilarious to sneak in and switch all Nick's clothes around. It would take Nick hours to find a full Stella-approved outfit. And then Stella had to go in and fix it," Frankie explained. "It was pretty funny though. Nick would get madder and madder – and when he's angry he gets really serious and uses big words and frowns a lot. And Joe would just laugh at him."

"Wow," Ellie said sounding stunned. "Okay. So how will we get them out after they've gotten together then?"

"We can either call Dad or have Stella tell us the code through the door so we can let them out. Should be pretty easy. We'll just close the door, sit back and let them do the rest."

"Maybe we can use the time to figure out what we're going to do about Nick," Ellie suggested.

"Sounds good." Frankie looked over at his friend's plate before suggesting, "How about we finish these sandwiches and then go lock them in?"

"Works for me."

A few minutes later, the two eight-year-olds were sneaking quietly towards the open door of the Stellavator. They could hear Stella and Joe talking inside.

"Joe, I got this one entered. We're almost done. Can you put it in slot 67?"

"But there's already a shirt in slot 67," Joe whined.

"I know," Stella said sounding a little impatient. "But that's so last week. It has to go. Put it in that pile over there to take to Macy's mom's place."

"I like this shirt," Joe replied. "Can't I keep it to just wear around?"

"No."

"Fine," Joe grumbled.

"Are you sure they like each other?" Ellie whispered. "It seems like they argue a lot."

"I know. It's just their thing. But they get super jealous when the other one has a date, and they're really protective. Trust me – they like each other."

Shrugging, Ellie said, "Okay. If you say so."

Frankie signaled for his partner-in-crime to remain quiet and slowly crept up to the door. After taking a deep breath, he reached out and slammed it shut. Then they both turned and ran to hide inside Kevin's bunk where they could hear everything happening inside the closet without worrying about being seen.

"What was that?" Stella asked loudly.

"The door closing?" Joe answered. Frankie heard footsteps and then the door rattled. "It's locked!"

"What do you mean it's locked, Joseph?" Frankie winced a little. Stella's voice sounded like ice.

"I mean we're stuck in here. It won't open."

There was a long period of silence. Ellie leaned over and whispered, "What do you think is happening?"

"I have no idea."

All of a sudden, Stella began screeching, "I can't believe you, Joe. Locking us in here? I thought we were past this."

"What?" Joe exclaimed indignantly. "I didn't do it. I was over there putting my favorite shirt in the donation pile for you. It must have been Frankie and his little friend."

Ellie narrowed her eyes, and Frankie was pretty sure Joe just became her least favorite Lucas.

"Please," Stella said scathingly. "Like those adorable little kids just happened to lock us in here an hour before my date with the captain of the basketball team so I won't have time to get ready. Do you honestly expect me to believe that, Joe?"

Ellie and Frankie's eyes went wide. That was unexpected.

"You already ruined one of my dates with your stupidity. I can't believe you'd do it again."

"I didn't do it, Stella. If you're going to blame someone, don't look at me. Blame Frankie – he's the only other person home right now."

"That is so like you," Stella spat out. "Blaming someone else for your actions. It's like the pudding in my purse all over again, but worse. And even if Frankie actually closed the door, I know you put him up to it. He is way too smart to try something like this."

Frankie gulped, "This isn't exactly going like we thought."

Ellie just shook her head, looking a little scared. Then they both heard Stella say, "Where's your cell? I'm calling Macy to get us out of here, and I left mine on your bed."

"It's in my jacket on the chair outside," Joe replied. Frankie peaked out from behind the curtains on Kevin's bed and saw Joe was telling the truth.

"Fine," Stella snapped. "There's a way to manually override the lock from the inside. I think I put the key over in that corner. Go check for me."

"You could ask a little nicer, you know." Frankie couldn't hear Stella say anything, but he could picture the glare she must have used because then Joe said, "Fine."

There was a rustling sound followed by a click and a slam. Peaking out again, Frankie and Ellie watched as Stella emerged alone from the closet with some sort of device that looked like a garage door opener in her hand. And then they heard Joe yell, "What the hell? Stella! Where are you?"

"Oh, I found the override. It was in my pocket all the time."

"Let me out!" Joe cried.

Stella glared at the Stellavator before spinning around and heading towards the stairs. Right before she left the room, she spotted Ellie and Frankie peaking out at her. She gestured for the youngest Lucas to come towards her. He was a little scared, but he knew that she wouldn't actually do anything to him.

As he got closer, she held out the thing in her hand. "Here," she said quietly. "You can let him out with this. Just make sure you make him suffer a little first."

He took the device from her and asked, "What is it?"

"It overrides the code and opens the door by remote. Kevin kept forgetting I was in there and shutting the door. I got tired of being locked in, so I had one made."

"Oh," Frankie said. "Good idea."

"I call it the Stella-remote. Patent pending," she added. "Now remember, don't let him out too soon." She turned and headed down the stairs, calling out, "Have fun in there Joe. I'm off to get ready for my date now!"

"Stella Malone, you get back here right now and let me out!" Joe yelled. "I mean it!"

"Oh and remember what happened when Kevin tried to go out the opening for the clothes. I wouldn't recommend it," she called out.

Frankie shuttered at little at the memory. Kevin had tried to hang onto the track and come out like one of the outfits, but he had found out that clothes on a hanger were much flatter than clothes on Kevin. It had required the help of the fire department and several stitches.

Frankie and Ellie quietly tip-toed down the stairs. When they reached the couch, they both collapsed on the cushions, sighing. They couldn't tell exactly what Joe was yelling, but they could still hear his angry shouts.

Looking over at his friend, he said, "You can go if you want. You don't have to stay for the release of the angry tiger."

Ellie hesitated for a moment before shaking her head. "We're a team. I'm not going to desert you just cause things got a little sticky." Biting her lip, she added, "How about we watch an episode of Ruff Ruffman and then let him out?"

"Sounds like a plan," Frankie said. He really wasn't looking forward to facing his brother. Maybe he'd get really lucky and his Dad would come home and let Joe out for him. But with the way his day was going, he doubted it.


	5. Musical Collaboration

_Disclaimer: I do not own JONAS._

_A/N: This is the chapter where I know some of you are going to want to kill me. I didn't want to create an OC, so I had to work with the existing girls of the week for Nick and the options were horrendous. Don't get too upset – there is a plan. Hopefully you can give me the benefit of the doubt and just wait and see how it all plays out._

Frankie and Ellie had been trying to keep a low profile around the Lucas house; in fact they had even played for two days at her house to let Joe calm down after the Stellavator incident. They had been fortunate that the Stella-remote had allowed them to release him without being too close to the door, and by the time he had finally tracked them down hiding under Frankie's bed, he had calmed down. Frankie was pretty sure that Ellie's tears had saved him from any real repercussions. Joe hated to see a girl cry.

They were in the middle of a rousing game of Monopoly (Frankie had Boardwalk and three railroads, so his victory was guaranteed) when Nick walked in with a question that was more interesting than beating Ellie at a board game.

"Hey, Joe," Nick asked, obviously trying to sound casual. "Would it be okay if Angelina came over and worked on some music with me later today?"

Joe gave his brother a totally blank look. "Who?"

"Angelina. From school."

"Still not ringing any bells," Joe said.

"Oh, come on," Nick exclaimed with exasperation. "Angelina – the girl who you made us all join orchestra to impress."

"Who liked chocolate tacos," Kevin added.

"The one you won over with your mad triangle skills."

Kevin started grinning, "Do you remember the look on Dad's face when he got the bill for all those triangles?"

Frankie smiled at the memory. He had thought that his father was going to kill Joe until Nick pointed out that if they used them in a concert they could write it off as a business expense. Luckily for Joe, the giant triangle was always a hit with the fans.

"The 'perfect' girl who you lost interest in after two dates."

"Oh, her," Joe said sounding surprised. "Why would I care if she came over?"

"Because she called you a musical dilettante in the middle of the hallway at school when you broke up with her," Nick explained.

"Yeah, I don't even know what that means, so I decided not to worry about it," Joe said casually. "Plus, it shouldn't be called a break up after two dates. That just shows that she takes everything way too seriously." Pausing for a moment, he added, "Why do you want to invite her over anyway?"

"I need to add some string instruments and woodwinds to this song I'm working on, and according to Mr. Phelps, she's the one I should talk to. I guess that in addition to the cello, she dabbles in the clarinet and oboe. And she's taking a composition course at the local junior college."

"How is a class on essay writing going to help you with your song?" Kevin asked.

"Musical composition. It's a class on writing music, not essays."

"Oh! That makes much more sense," Kevin said happily.

"Your turn," Ellie told Frankie, holding out the dice to him.

"Ellie, I don't think we're going to be finishing this game," Frankie said slowly.

"We're not?"

"Didn't you hear? Nick is bringing a girl over. This is our chance."

"A girl who already dated Joe, right? Is that a good idea?" Ellie sounded a little worried. "We've already made him mad once this week. And you know you don't like playing at my house."

"I think it'll be okay. According to Mom, Joe never really liked her – he just saw her as a challenge. Or something like that; honestly I wasn't paying that much attention. Besides she was way too serious and stuffy for him."

"But she wouldn't be too serious and stuffy for Nick?" Ellie asked quietly.

Frankie looked at her incredulously. "Have you met Nick? He's the most serious sixteen year old on the planet. They can sit around being serious and musical together. It should be perfect."

"That sounds reasonable," Ellie admitted. "What do you think we should do?"

"How about we do some spying once she comes over and scope things out. Once we have some firm intel, we can form a strategic plan."

"You've been watching the History Channel again, haven't you?"

Nodding, Frankie said, "There was a great series on the OSS last night. It was very inspiring."

Glancing down at the board, Ellie asked, "Do you want to go ahead and finish up the game or should I just surrender and admit defeat?" When Frankie raised an eyebrow at her phrasing, she grinned and said, "Civilization Revolution with my Dad."

"Got it. I'll accept your surrender and suggest we start a new game while we wait for Angelina to arrive."

Frankie was grateful when the doorbell rang an hour later because he was only a few turns away from having to admit defeat. He and Ellie watched Nick open the door and tried not to be too obvious as they observed the tall, pretty brunette enter the firehouse. She was carrying a huge case in one hand that Frankie knew must hold her cello and a smaller case in her other hand. As soon as she made it into the house, Nick offered to carry one of them for her.

"Thanks so much for coming, Angelina," he said. "Can I take those for you?"

"Oh, sure. Thanks, Nick," the girl replied as she looked around the family room of the firehouse.

When her eyes settled on Frankie, he heard Nick say, "That's my little brother Frankie and his friend Ellie." Gesturing towards the girl standing next to him, he added, "Guys, this is Angelina."

The two kids smiled and waved, and Angelina gave them a forced smile and waved back. She seemed really stiff and uptight to Frankie. She turned to Nick and said, "I was really surprised when you called."

"Well, Mr. Phelps said you were the best," Nick replied a little too cheerfully. Frankie wondered if maybe his brother was already regretting inviting her over, but he wasn't going to let that interfere with his plans. The two could still hit it off once they started talking music. Then Nick added, "How about we go upstairs to the studio and get started. I can play you what I have so far, and maybe you can suggest the best way to work in some other instruments."

"That sounds great," Angelina said with a genuine smile, obviously excited about the idea of listening to the song. The two teens headed up the stairs, with Nick carrying the instrument cases.

As soon as they were both upstairs, Ellie whispered to Frankie, "What should we do now?"

"If we are really quiet, we should be able to sneak up the stairs and crawl under Joe's bed without them seeing us. I think we can hear them from there."

"Alright," Ellie said. "You lead, and I'll follow."

Frankie thought that the two of them did an excellent job of sneaking; neither Nick nor Angelina looked like they suspected anything. By the time the two matchmakers were safely under Joe's bed, Nick was already sitting at the piano playing the beginning of the song. Angelina sat nearby listening carefully.

When he finished, he looked up at her expectantly. At first she didn't say anything, but then she asked him, "Could you play it one more time for me?"

"Sure."

This time while he played, Angelina made notes on a piece of paper she had taken out of her backpack. She had a look of total concentration on her face. When Nick finished, she looked up and said, "I really like it." Opening the large cello case, she pulled the huge instrument out. "What about something like this?" And then she began to play. After a moment, Nick joined in.

Frankie had grown up around music, and he knew immediately that the girl was talented. What she was playing fit really well with his brother's song.

"That's incredible," Nick said excitedly when they finished. "What do you think about picking up the tempo a little during the bridge? And we could have some woodwind join in there?"

Angelina's eyes lit up at the suggestion. She opened her other case and pulled out some instrument Frankie had never seen before. "Do you know what you want them to sound like?"

Nick began to hum and after a moment, Angelina was able to play something fairly close on her second instrument. "It still needs some work, but let's try and get that on paper and then we can fine-tune it," she suggested.

As the conversation became more technical, Frankie signaled for Ellie to follow him back down the stairs. Once they reached the kitchen, Frankie turned to his friend and asked, "What do you think?"

After knocking a dust bunny off her knee, she replied, "They do seem well matched. It was almost like they could complete each other's sentences once they started talking music. What do you want to do next?"

They both stood silently, thinking about how best to approach the duo upstairs. Frankie knew that anything too intrusive would be bad; Nick hated to be interrupted when he was inspired. But lots of times Frankie would bring him a snack while he worked.

"How about we take them a plate of Mom's cookies and just mention how great the song sounds. Sort of point out how well they work together," he suggested. "It's not much, but I think starting slow would be good."

Ellie looked impressed. "I like it. How about I get the cookies and you grab some drinks?"

"Deal!"

Five minutes later the two were walking up the stairs on their way to the studio. All of a sudden, Frankie whispered, "Wait!"

Ellie froze and waited.

"You know that super innocent look you do sometimes?" Frankie asked his friend. Ellie grinned and opened her eyes a fraction larger and blinked a few times. "That's the one. When we get up there, why don't you pull that out and ask if we can stay and listen to them. That way we can watch without having to get covered in dust and can compliment them on how great they work together when appropriate."

"Aye, aye captain," Ellie said before continuing up the stairs.

Once they reached the studio area, Frankie waited for a pause in the music before saying, "Hey Nick. I thought maybe you guys might like a snack."

Nick looked up and grinned at his little brother. "Thanks, kiddo."

Getting up from the piano, he headed straight for the plate of cookies Ellie was holding. "Angelina, do you want any of my mom's homemade chocolate chip cookies?" Glancing over at the glasses in his brother's hands, he added, "And it looks like they brought some milk too?"

Ellie jumped in, "If you want something else to drink, they have bottled water and soda downstairs."

Angelina smiled and said, "Cookies and milk sound great. Thanks."

Frankie thought she seemed much nicer and more relaxed now than she had when she first arrived. Maybe she had been nervous or something. As soon as Angelina and Nick had settled back into their seats with their snacks, Frankie gave the girl standing next to him a gentle nudge.

Frankie had to bit his lip to keep from laughing as Ellie put on her most innocent little girl expression before asking, "Nick, do you think – if we promise to sit still and be really quiet – that maybe we could watch you? I've never seen anyone write a song before."

Nick hesitated only a moment before agreeing, "Just make sure you guys are quiet, okay?"

Ellie nodded vigorously, grabbed a cookie and started to munch. Frankie was surprised that she actually seemed excited about watching them work on the song. She'd never shown any interest in the band.

"Do you want to take it from the top?" Nick asked Angelina. "Piano and Cello?"

"Sure. Just let me finish up this cookie. Your mom is a really good cook!"

After finishing her cookie, she signaled Nick that she was ready to begin. Frankie was really impressed with what the two had accomplished in a little under an hour. The song was upbeat, but the cello added something different from the usual JONAS song.

When they finished, Angelina frowned, "It's almost there, but there was something off at the end. I just don't know what."

The two of them sat thinking, and both Frankie and Ellie knew this was a time to be quiet. Nick suddenly crossed out something on the paper and scribbled a few notes before looking up at his collaborator. She played the new notes and grinned.

"You're brilliant! Let's try it again."

Frankie barely noticed any difference, but Nick and Angelina seemed pleased with the change. Since they both appeared to be in a good mood, he thought this might be a good time to say something, "Wow! You guys work really well together."

Angelina looked pleased at the compliment, and Nick said, "How about we record the piano and cello this time, and then we can lay in the other instruments so they can get the full effect?"

An hour later, Frankie and Ellie were able to listen to the completed song. It was fantastic, and Frankie knew his brother well enough to know that he was really pleased.

After Nick turned off the CD, Ellie started to speak, "Nick," she said hesitantly, "do you think…"

Frankie was surprised when his normally outgoing friend stopped talking and looked down at the floor.

"What Ellie?" His brother asked.

"Never mind," she mumbled. Frankie raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?" Nick asked kindly.

Looking up she nervously asked, "When you are all done, do you think I can have a copy of just the music like you played today?"

"You don't want the words?" Nick sounded amused.

Ellie was obviously embarrassed, so Frankie jumped in, "Her mom won't let her listen to you guys because the she thinks the lyrics are too old for an eight-year old."

"Oh," Nick looked surprised. "Well, sure, Ellie. When it's done, okay?"

"Thank you," she said beaming. Then she looked at Angelina, "You two are really amazing – the way you sort of build off each other's ideas."

"We are a pretty good team, aren't we?" Nick asked throwing his arm around her. Frankie smirked a little as he saw the girl blush. His brother didn't seem to notice. He released Angelina and started to clean up the sheet music.

"I'd better get going," Angelina said after looking down at her watch. "I have a ton of homework to get done." She hesitated before adding, "Thanks for inviting me over Nick. I had a great time working with you."

"Thank you for all the help," Nick replied. "I couldn't have done it without you. Maybe we can get together later in the week to talk about you playing on the album." He smirked before adding, "That is if you want to be on a silly pop CD."

Angelina blushed, "Have I apologized yet for saying you guys weren't serious musicians? I was totally wrong."

"I was joking," Nick said dryly.

"Oh. Well, even if you were joking, I'm sorry. And I'd love to play on your album."

Nick gave her one of his rare smiles. "Then I'll talk to you later."

Frankie was a little shocked that Nick was just going to let the girl walk down the stairs alone. He jumped in and said, "Ellie and I can help you with your music cases."

Nick's head snapped up at his brother's words. "No, Frankie. I've got it." He reached over and took the large cello case from Angelina. "I'll walk you to your car and protect you from the crazy fan girls outside."

As soon as Nick and Angelina were out of sight, Ellie turned and looked at Frankie with admiration. "That was impressive. Nice work under pressure."

He bowed and said, "Thank you."

"How do you think it went?" She asked.

Frankie thought about the afternoon. Nick had obviously appreciated Angelina's help, but he wasn't sure his brother had felt anything romantic towards his fellow musician. But it was a start. "I think there was something there we could work with, don't you?"

Ellie nodded, "And we made it through the afternoon without anyone yelling, which is always positive."

All and all, it was a good day for Operation Matchmaker.


	6. Bringing in Reinforcements

_Disclaimer: I do not own JONAS._

_A/N: Beware, this is a filler/transition chapter. It was originally going to include the planning and execution of the next Stella/Joe, but the planning section sort of took on a life of its own. Also, thank you so much to all of the readers who were willing to go along with me on the Nick/Angelina road. I had expected a cyber-lynching, so the support was a lovely surprise. Oh, and I'm finally back from my last vacation of the summer. I've almost forgotten what my house looks like._

_Dedication: To Ally117 because somehow when I was on one of those vacations I missed one of your stories and you put me in the dedication. Thank you so much!_

Frankie and Ellie had decided to take a day off from matchmaking; they had had a minor success with Nick and Angelina, but they were both still a little shell-shocked from the Joe/Stella failure. While Joe and Stella seemed to be pretty much back to normal, Joe was still not thrilled with his little brother. Fortunately, he had assumed it was a childish prank gone wrong and hadn't read anything sinister into the event. But Frankie was more than happy to lay low with an afternoon of video games and Monopoly. The two kids were happily fighting the Empire when Stella and Joe entered the house bickering as usual.

Frankie grinned as Ellie rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue. Joe and Stella weren't her favorite people; in fact she had pretty much avoided them both since the Stellavator debacle.

"I'm gonna go get a snack," Frankie said to his friend. "Do you want something?"

"Yes, please," Ellie answered without glancing up from the screen.

"Chocolate chip cookies and milk or apple juice and yogurt?"

"Either is good. You pick."

Frankie saw Stella smile and put her hand on Joe's arm. "They're so cute," she cooed. Apparently she wasn't upset with them, which made Frankie feel a little better. "Don't they remind you of us when we were their age?"

Frankie seriously doubted that Ellie was anything like Stella. His friend was cool and played video games, and from what he had heard from Nick, Stella used to make Joe play Barbies. He would never hang out with a girl who made him dress up plastic dolls.

"They do sort of," his brother agreed. Apparently Joe had blocked the doll playing from his memory.

"Except Frankie is a gentleman. You always used to make me get the snacks."

"That's cause you made the best PB&J, Stell."

Frankie and Ellie ate their snack in front of their game, ignoring Joe and Stella. When the two teens finally headed upstairs, Frankie muttered, "We are nothing like those two."

"I know!" Ellie agreed. "Other than the fact that we're friends who are a boy and girl." She went back to playing the game, concentrating on trying to collect all the points she could. Then suddenly she put down her controller. "Somehow I feel like we should be able to use that to help us."

"Use what? What are you talking about?"

"Stella and Joe. Matchmaking. We should be able to use the fact that we remind them of themselves."

"How?"

Ellie frowned. "I don't know. But it just seems like it should be useful."

"I guess," Frankie said, not totally convinced. Admittedly, his Joe/Stella idea had failed, so he really couldn't be too critical.

"Do you think that maybe we could ask for help?" She finally asked. "Talk to someone who knows teenagers better than we do?"

He hated the idea of asking for help, but she was probably right. They could use some advice.

"Who? My mom?"

"I don't think moms know that much about teenagers," Ellie said slowly. "They think they do, but they don't really. Maybe we can try someone else like another teenager. Maybe Macy. She knows Stella, so she might have some idea what would work."

"Okay. I guess she should invite Kevin too, since they're sort of a package deal now."

"Great. How about you call him then?"

After Frankie had given his oldest brother a short summary of their problem over the phone, he and Macy had arrive within minutes, ready to join Operation Joe and Stella. He and Ellie had decided to make it seem like Joe and Stella were the only target; no need to let them know about the entire plan.

The four of them retreated to Frankie's room to avoid being interrupted by Joe and Stella. After explaining about the previous mishap, they asked Macy and Kevin for some advice on what to try next.

Once Macy stopped laughing, she gasped out, "I can't believe that was you two. Stella was so sure it was Joe being jealous."

"She wanted it to be Joe being jealous," Kevin replied. Frankie was impressed – that was pretty snarky for Kevin. "We all know they like each other, so what's the problem?" The oldest Lucas added. "Why can't they just kiss and get it over with?"

Sometimes Frankie wondered if his brother paid attention to anything that happened in their house. All it took was some well timed eavesdropping to know exactly why Stella and Joe weren't dating. He couldn't believe that Nick and Kevin had actually gone upstairs that morning when Joe and Stella had their big talk before Great Morning USA. Frankie had hidden behind a door and heard the entire thing. What Frankie didn't get was how Joe and Stella could think that their little plan was a good idea – they both hated the idea of the other one dating someone else.

"Because they're scared," Macy said.

"Stella can be pretty scary when she's mad," Kevin admitted. Frankie thought that Kevin had a definite point there; Ellie was still talking about how frightening "angry" Stella could be.

"Not scared of each other. Scared that they'll date and something will go wrong, and they'll stop being friends. Plus, Stella is worried about losing you guys and her job as well if something happened with Joe."

"Oh," Kevin said slowly. "I guess that makes sense."

Ellie shrugged, "Stella was pretty mad at Joe in the fancy closet thing." She still refused to call it the Stellevator. "If they keep getting jealous they may mess up their friendship without dating."

Frankie thought that Ellie had an excellent point. Most of Stella and Joe's arguments seemed to revolve around jealousy. Or Joe messing up his clothes, but mostly jealousy.

"But how do we get them together?" Kevin asked. "I mean unless one of you has a crystal ball that will prove to them that they won't ever break up and that everything will work out." His eyes went wide. "How cool would that be?"

Frankie rolled his eyes, but before he could respond, Macy reached out and patted his brother's arm. "That would be really cool, Kev, but I think we're all out of crystal balls."

"Magic Eight Balls?"

"Oh, I have one of those," Ellie said. "But I've found them to be a little unreliable. Last week it told me that 'all signs pointed to yes' when I asked if my mom was going to go let me see that new movie with guinea pigs, and she said no."

"I wish she had just said no," Frankie added. "That would have been much faster. I think I fell asleep in the middle of her explanation of why you couldn't go."

Shrugging, Ellie admitted, "I don't really listen to the details anymore. I just sort of tune out once I figure out if she's saying yes or no."

"So no Magic Eight Ball?" Kevin asked slowly. Macy leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek, which Frankie assumed was to soften the blow.

"We sort of have a plan," Eliie began. "We wanted to use the fact that Frankie and I remind Stella of her and Joe, but we aren't sure how to do that."

Macy's eyes lit up at the suggestion, and Frankie suspected that the brunette already had an idea. "We just need to come up with a scenario that works on two levels – something child-like and innocent for you two to do that will also function on a higher level to make a point to Stella about her relationship with Joe. It's brilliant."

"Huh?" Kevin asked. Frankie and Ellie looked equally as confused.

Macy smiled at them. "You two have a fight in front of Stella and Joe that'll make them think about their own relationship."

"But Ellie and I don't fight," Frankie pointed out.

"It doesn't have to be real," Macy said. "In fact, it needs to be carefully thought out if it's going to work. Why don't you two sit down and tell me a little bit about your class and school so I can come up with something believable."

Kevin grinned at his girlfriend and kissed her cheek, "You're so cute when you're devious," he gushed. Frankie could only hope that he would never sound that stupid about a girl when he grew up.

Macy took her job very seriously; she spent over an hour grilling them about their friendship and school. Frankie felt bad because it turned out he had somehow managed to hurt Ellie's feelings a couple of times without even knowing it. Girls must be more sensitive because he couldn't think of a time when Ellie upset him. He'd have to ask Kevin about that later.

"Okay," Macy finally said. "I think I have enough to work with here. I'll go home and work up a script for you two. How about we meet at Ellie's tomorrow after school to go over the details?"

"Sure," Ellie replied. "Just be prepared to spend a good half hour talking to my mom. She loves Kevin."

"That's actually perfect," Macy said happily. "Kevin can distract your mom while we plan. Sometimes moms can get a little weird about interfering with other people's lives."

"And my mom's weird enough all on her own," Ellie observed.

"Hey, I like your mom," Kevin said. Then he grinned, "Maybe she'll show me how to use her new die cut machine for my scrapbook."

"Oh! Maybe you two could cut me some letters for my JONAS scrapbook too," Macy squealed. Frankie glanced over at Ellie and smirked. Macy may be a crazy fan girl, but she was certainly the perfect girl for Kevin.

And maybe if they were lucky, she'd also be the perfect addition to Operation Matchmaker.


	7. Putting the Plan into Action

_Disclaimer: I don't own JONAS._

_A/N: As much as I wanted to skip this chapter, I finally forced myself to sit down and write it. It was complicated and convoluted, but I am very glad that it is done. One more to go._

_Dedication: Happy Birthday Kelly!_

Macy had obviously spent some time on the plan; she had arrived at Ellie's house with a list of themes and key phrases for them to use that she thought would be most likely to impact Joe and Stella. And her fake fight was actually pretty good. Ellie and Frankie had studied their part for almost a half an hour before deciding that they were ready to give it a try. Macy had already made sure that Stella and Joe would be at the firehouse, so now it was just up to the eight year olds to put on a show.

As they stood outside, Macy gave them a few last minute instructions. "Now remember," she said, "give it a few minutes before you start fighting. You two make Stella nostalgic, so we want to lure her in with your cuteness before you start the drama."

Frankie never would have suspected that behind Macy's cheerful exterior was a master manipulator. He was both impressed and a little frightened by her.

"Got it," Ellie said. Taking a deep breath, she turned to Frankie. "You ready?"

"Sure. Let's go do this," he replied.

The two of them bounded into the house like they usually did, dumping their backpacks in the entryway and heading immediately to the kitchen for a snack. They waved at Joe and Stella who were sitting on the couch watching some fashion show on television.

Frankie handed Ellie the supplies they would need to make sandwiches and grinned when he heard Stella say to Joe, "Aren't they adorable?"

They had captured the teenagers' attention and could go ahead and start any time.

"Did you hear that Taylor Thompson is starting a kick ball league at recess?" Frankie threw out as he and Ellie sat eating their snack. That was her cue that they were starting the mock fight.

Ellie's head shot up and she grinned, "That's so cool. I love kick ball!"

"You can't play," Frankie replied bluntly before taking a bite from his sandwich.

"Why not?"

"Oh, Taylor said it's just for boys. No girls allowed."

Frankie saw Ellie's eyes narrow. If this had been a real fight, he would have known that she was mad and done immediate damage control, but he was supposed to pretend to be clueless.

"That's stupid. I can kick better than lots of the boys in our grade," she said.

Shrugging, he answered, "I know. But Taylor's making the rules and I want to play, so I didn't ask too many questions."

"Did you even ask if I could play?" He could hear the edge in her voice.

"No. I already told you he said no girls. You can just go read by yourself or something. You don't have to do everything with me."

"Fine," Ellie snapped. "If you'd rather go play with the boys, I'll go find someone else to spend my recesses with. In fact, maybe tomorrow I'll go play with Kaitlyn and her friends. Mom mentioned that she might let me start watching Hannah Montana soon; I'm sure they'd be happy to tell me all about what I've missed."

"What?" Frankie shrieked. "You can't go hang out with those girls! They're stupid."

"Excuse me?"

"You can't play with them."

"Frankie Lucas, you can't tell me what to do!" Ellie yelled. "If you don't want to play with me, then I can play with whoever I want."

Ellie had just hit the important part of the fight. Somehow this was supposed to make Stella and Joe think about their jealousy issues and how they refused to date each other but never wanted the other one to date anyone else. He just hoped it would be enough.

"You want to play with stupid people?" He asked loudly.

"No," she said sounding upset. "Just because they're different from you doesn't mean they're stupid. In fact, right now the only person I know who sounds stupid is you! I can't believe that you don't want to play with me but you think you can tell me what to do."

"They don't even like you," he pointed out. "I bet the only reason they'd hang out with you is because you know JONAS."

He gulped as he saw Ellie's eyes well up with tears. Maybe that had been taking it a little too far. The girls in his class weren't always very nice to Ellie, and he knew she was a little sensitive about that. She turned and whispered to Kevin, "I want to go home now."

Kevin glared at his youngest brother before putting a hand around the little girl next to him. "Of course, sweetie. I'll take you right now."

Frankie felt his chest tighten as he heard Ellie sniffling as she walked out the door. He glanced around the room and saw Stella and Joe staring at him in disbelief. He knew what he was supposed to do now – he turned and ran to his room. It was up to Macy to get Joe to come talk to him.

He had been curled up on his bed for a few minutes when he finally heard his brother enter the room.

Joe cleared his throat before saying, "Well, that was interesting."

Frankie was glad that his face was in his pillow so his brother couldn't see his eye roll. That was the best Joe could come up with?

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Frankie had to admit that was a little better, so he rolled over and sat up. "I probably shouldn't have said that stuff to Ellie, huh?"

Crossing the room to sit on the bed, Joe replied, "Probably not." He looked over at his brother and asked, "What were you thinking, little man?"

"I don't know. I just didn't like the idea of her hanging out with those girls."

"So you were jealous, huh?"

Frankie was excited that Joe had picked up on the jealousy theme without him having to spell it out. He made a show of looking like he was thinking before replying, "Maybe. I just don't want Ellie to change and be like those girls. She's my best friend."

Joe patted Frankie on the back, "Sometimes it gets complicated when your best friend's a girl."

Frankie couldn't believe how easy Joe was making this for him. He had just given him the perfect opening for another of Macy's lines.

"Don't you ever worry that Stella will find some other guy that she likes hanging out with more than you?" Frankie asked. He knew that it wasn't exactly the same thing as Ellie and the annoying girls at school, but Macy told him that they needed Joe to focus on the idea of Stella and another guy for this to work. He really hoped he wasn't going to get a lecture on how people can have more than one friend because while true, that wouldn't be helpful. He needed Joe to stay on track because he really didn't want to have to improvise too much.

"Of course I do," Joe replied.

Frankie almost grinned in relief, but instead he asked, "So what do you do?"

Sighing, Joe looked at the ground before admitting, "Hope it doesn't happen."

"That's it! You sit around hoping your best friend, the girl we all know you like, won't find someone else?" Frankie said with obvious disgust. "How's that a plan?"

"It's complicated, Frankie."

"This is the part where you tell me I'm too young to understand, right? But guess what – I do understand. You're scared that you'll mess up and lose her." Frankie saw that Joe was about to interrupt, but he kept going. "But how are you going to feel when she starts dating someone else?"

Joe sat silent staring at his younger brother. Frankie considered saying more on the subject, but it looked like his brother was already deep in thought. Instead he stood up and said, "I think I'm going to do more than just hope Ellie isn't mad at me. I'm going to go find her and apologize."

He wasn't sure if the plan was working, but he had definitely made Joe think, which was something. He just hoped it was enough. And he really wanted to make sure that Ellie was just a really good actress and wasn't actually mad at him, so he left Joe alone in his bedroom and headed out to find Macy.

When he reached the family room, he found Stella and Macy deep in conversation. Stella was pacing and gesturing wildly with her hands, while Macy sat on the couch nodding occasionally.

"I feel like there's no right answer," Stella cried dramatically. "Dating could end in disaster, but I can't handle watching him with someone else. Even seeing pictures of him with that stupid Fiona girl made me feel like my heart was being ripped out and stomped on – and I knew it wasn't even true!"

"You don't know that dating him will end badly," Macy pointed out hesitantly.

"I know," Stella conceded. "But there is so much at stake."

"I guess the real question is do you think that Joe's worth the risk."

Frankie had to hand it to Macy – that was an awesome line. He would have to remember to tell Ellie about that one. He also thought it would be an ideal moment to make his presence known.

"Hey Macy," he said quietly. "Do you think you could drive me over to Ellie's house?"

Stella and Macy both looked over at him with sympathy.

"Are you sure?" Stella asked him, sounding worried. "Maybe she just needs some time to calm down."

Frankie shook his head, "She's my best friend. I don't want her to be mad at me."

Macy gave him a pointed look before saying, "It might not be easy to get her to forgive you."

Frankie thought carefully. He knew that Macy wanted him to say something that would back up what she had just told Stella. He tried to remember the list of themes she had given him earlier. And then it hit him. Shrugging, he said, "I guess if you care about someone, it's worth taking a risk, right?"

He knew he had gotten it right when he saw Macy grin at him. She reached out and ruffled his hair before saying, "That's right kiddo. I'll take you over there now."

He and Macy walked out the door, leaving a quiet, thoughtful Stella behind. As soon as they were in the safety of Macy's car, he turned and said, "No eight-year old boy would come up with that last line on his own. Do you think they knew what we were doing?"

She shook her head, "Stella is so confused, you could have started quoting Shakespeare to her and she wouldn't have questioned it."

He sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. I'd have hated for Ellie's performance to be wasted." He paused before voicing the fear that had been nagging him for the past half hour. "You do think it was all acting, right? Cause she sort of seemed really upset at the end there."

Macy smiled at him, "I think it'll be fine. Kevin would have called me if she was really upset. But why don't we head over and check on them."

"Sounds good," Frankie replied.

As soon as they reached Ellie's house, Frankie jumped out of the car and raced to the front door. He rang the door bell and rocked back and forth waiting for someone to answer it. Then the door swung open to show a beaming Ellie.

"Did it work?" She asked excitedly. "Are they together yet?"

Frankie felt like a weight had been lifted off of his chest. She wasn't mad at him. Shaking his head, he answered, "I don't know yet. They were both doing some serious thinking when we left."

He saw his friend's eyes open wide. "And you left? But how are we supposed to know what happened?"

Macy, who had just come up the walkway, answered for him, "They needed some alone time to work this out. They won't do it if we're all hovering around them." She grinned a little before adding, "Plus, you did such a great acting job that Frankie here was a little worried you were actually mad at him."

Ellie looked at the boy standing in front of her with surprise. "Really? Why would I be mad? It was all pretend."

"I don't know," Frankie said looking at the ground. "I know the girls get to you sometimes, and I was afraid that maybe I shouldn't have said some of that stuff. That even though I didn't mean any of it, you still might have gotten your feelings hurt."

"If someone else had said it, I might have been upset," Ellie admitted. "But I know you didn't mean it."

"Oh," Frankie said, sounding relieved. "Good."

At that moment, Kevin came up behind Ellie. "Do you think that we can go back to the firehouse and check on the lovebirds yet?"

Macy glanced down at her watch. "How about we take these two out for ice cream to celebrate their awesome performance? I would hate to interrupt a moment or something."

Kevin grinned, "Excellent! I'll go ask Ellie's mom."

After some delicious ice cream sundaes, the four of them headed back to the Lucas' house. Frankie almost shouted in excitement at the sight that greeted him – Stella and Joe were curled up on the couch cuddling. He had never seen them sit like that before.

Joe glanced up and saw Ellie and Frankie standing next to each other and asked, "Everything okay?"

Ellie grinned, "We're good. Frankie apologized."

Macy stepped in quickly before Joe could ask any more questions about the pretend apology. "You two look awfully cozy," she observed.

Stella smiled and rested her head on Joe's shoulder. He tightened his hold on her before saying, "Yeah. We decided that Frankie wasn't the only one being an idiot."

Frankie frowned a little at that comment.

"What exactly does that mean?" Kevin asked sounding confused.

"We're going to give dating a try," Stella explained.

While Kevin and Macy congratulated the new couple, Ellie and Frankie gave each other a discreet high five.

Two down, one to go.


	8. In the Open

_Disclaimer: I don't own JONAS._

_A/N: Here is the last chapter. I know some of you are going to be disappointed at the wrap-up, but this seemed more realistic to me. Originally I was going to have Nick do something totally different, but you all surprised me by liking the Nick/Angelina pairing so adjustments were made. Thank you so much to everyone who read and reviewed!_

_Dedication: To Jonathan, who is brilliant and dryly sarcastic and located this file on my computer after I lost it and only laughed at me a little. _

Ellie and Frankie were sitting at the kitchen table working on their homework when Nick suddenly appeared at the head of the table.

"We need to talk, munchkins," he announced.

Frankie looked at his brother with amusement, "Okay, Nick. About what?"

"Angelina is coming over today to discuss the album, and I would like you two to lay off the matchmaking."

Frankie saw Ellie's mouth drop open in surprise as he stuttered, "Match… what?" He gulped before getting out, "We have no idea what you're talking about."

Nick raised an eyebrow at his youngest brother, and Frankie knew his brother well enough to know that there was no use denying it. Instead he said, "How'd you know?"

"Didn't take a genius to figure it out," Nick replied. "Well, considering Joe and Kevin are still clueless, I guess it did." Nick smirked a little before continuing. "You and Ellie never pay any attention to us. All of a sudden you two are around every time we're near a girl, and Joe and Kevin just both happen to get girlfriends. There was no way that was a coincidence."

Frankie looked at his brother with admiration – he really was the smart one. "Fair enough."

Nick smiled at the two matchmakers. "I will say you two did an impressive job. I never thought Stella and Joe would get together. And you were pretty subtle when Angelina was over. If I hadn't already become suspicious after the Stellavator thing, I wouldn't have known what you were doing."

"Thanks," Ellie said cheerfully, obviously glad that the sneaking around was over now that the last victim already knew what they were doing.

"So what were you going to do if I hadn't invited Angelina over?" Nick asked curiously.

"We were still working on that," Frankie admitted. "Ellie wanted to grab someone carrying a Nick sign from outside, but I told her we couldn't do that."

"Gee, thanks Ellie," Nick said sarcastically.

The little girl shrugged, "It's not that easy to find high school girls when you're in second grade. Our options were a little limited."

"Fair enough," Nick replied, sounding amused.

Ellie looked up at him seriously, "Are you sure you don't want us to help you with Angelina. I think we're actually getting the hang of this matchmaking thing. And we'll promise not to lock you in anything. We learned our lesson on that one."

Nick chuckled, "No thanks. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about Angelina right now. I was thinking about just taking it slow - get to know her and see what happens."

"But you're Nick. You never take it slow and see how things go," Frankie said in confusion. "You're the fall hard, go a million miles an hour brother."

"And we've all seen how well that's worked for me," Nick said dryly. "I thought maybe I'd see how other people do it."

"Just not Stella and Joe, please." Ellie begged. "I'm not sure we could survive that."

Nick laughed, "As much as I love them both, I'm not going to look to them for relationship advice."

Ellie and Frankie both sighed in relief.

"So no spying and scheming while Angelina's over?" Nick asked pointedly.

"Deal," Ellie said, sounding a little relieved.

Frankie nodded, "It'll actually be nice to go back to video games and stuff. The matchmaking took a lot more time than I had expected."

"But it was sort of fun getting to know your brothers better," Ellie admitted. "I still think they're weird, but they've grown on me."

Nick chuckled, "You've sort of grown on us too, Ellie." He leaned over and took something out of his messenger bag. "In fact, we made you something."

He handed her a CD case that said, "Ellie's Songs" on the front. "I put on some acoustic versions of our songs, including the one Angelina and I wrote. Plus I added some covers we did of kids stuff. Babysitter Kevin checked them all with your mom, so this should be an Ellie's mom approved, one-of-a-kind JONAS CD."

Frankie saw Ellie look down at the CD and then back up at Nick. She walked up to his brother and gave him a quick hug and whispered, "Thank you."

Nick rumpled her hair and said, "You're welcome, kiddo."

Ellie pulled away and turned to grin at Frankie. "Lego Star Wars?"

Frankie nodded as he got up from the table. Even if he didn't manage to get all three of them girlfriends, he still thought that things had gone pretty well. And as an added bonus, all three of his brothers seemed genuinely happy. He glanced over at his best friend and smiled at how pleased she looked reading the song list on the back of the CD case, or as he liked to think of it, the first spoils of Operation Matchmaker.

It felt good to make other people happy.

It would feel even better if he could get Kevin and Macy to take him to ice cream again.


End file.
